Sept 30, 2026–After interviewing hundreds of musicians and celebrities, I still get nervous when they give me time to talk. After all, they have been asked every question dozens of times already.
My first big “get” was the legendary Ray Price. I had grown up listening and watching him on classic black & white TV shows. My first professional gig was playing drums with Frankie Lee & The Swingmasters in a small bar in a small town. Frankie Lee channeled Ray, with dark, slicked-back hair and a deep pleasing voice. So of course I had played every Ray Price hit from Heartaches by the Number to For the Good Times. When I asked for advice from veteran DJ Big G, he told me to ask him about fishing.
Turns out I never got to, because Price turned out to be an affable interviewee who talked about everything without me even needing to ask questions. We got along so famously I was invited to stand backstage during one of his final shows before we lost him to cancer.
Another unexpectedly articulate subject was Michael Martin Murphey. The first time I was able to interview him, his handler took the call and stressed that “Murph” only had 20 minutes before another interview. I pledged brevity.
Well 20 minutes passed, and when his manager came back on the line, Murphey wanted to keep going. Another 20 minutes passed, then another 5 minutes before he could finally get him off the phone. What had we talked about? How to write a song. I discovered that Mr. Murphey was a highly-educated and widely-read wordsmith.
One interview I most cherish was with Roy Clark. I remember wishing my dad could have known that I talked with one of his heroes. Every Saturday night our whole family was glued to Hee Haw, and I can still hear my dad chuckling at the silly country humor.
He would have laughed out loud knowing his son interviewed Clark and talked about his guitar licks, how Hee Haw was filmed, and how it felt pulling on pantyhose to play Myrtle on The Beverly Hillbillies.
Dad would have also enjoyed hearing about Mel Tillis. I actually couldn’t connect with Tillis in time to meet my deadline. But I went to his show and we ended up on his tour bus with his son, watching his Florida Gators and talking about basketball.
As Pat Friday – the Singing Coed. Photo by Phil Houseal
But the best interview? It was with someone you probably never heard of–Pat Friday.
Someone tipped me off that a famous former radio singer was living in the area and I should do a story.
At first I demurred, not thinking anyone would want to read about that. But after doing some research, I was flabbergasted to find out Pat Friday was America’s sweetheart during WWII, and had worked with my favorite old-time radio icons:
George & Gracie, Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, Jack Benny, and Victor Borge.
When I met her, Friday was well up in age, but still projected the graceful demeanor of a Hollywood star. I learned she was the uncredited singing voice of the actress Lynn Bari in the movie Sun Valley Serenade.
But the coup de grace was when she dropped this story on me: Pat Friday did a radio show with Jack Webb called In Time To Come. It lasted only 13 weeks, but had an unexpected impact.
“Jack asked me one day, how long are you going to be using your name?” Pat Friday said. “He told me he may adopt it, and I said that’s OK.”
As fans of the radio and TV series Dragnet know, Webb became Sergeant Joe Friday.
I could have listened to her tell stories for hours. But after 20 minutes, she stood up abruptly and announced, “That’s enough.” She wasn’t upset. She was just done.
That was my favorite interview.